Nationwide Building Society has significantly increased its mortgage lending to first-time buyers (FTBs) this financial year.
The group revealed it has doubled the amount of money handed over to those looking to get their foot on the first rung of the property ladder during the six months to September 2012.
Indeed, around £2.5 billion has been passed on to 20,000 FTBs, which is almost as much as it lent to a total of 24,000 FTBs across the whole of the last financial year spanning 2011 and 2012.
The building society revealed 30 per cent of its overall lending in the six months to September this year was taken up by FTBs.
A lender the size of Nationwide would normally be expected to deal with around ten per cent of all first-time purchasers – but its successes in 2012 have seen it offering mortgages to more than 18 per cent of this group.
Nationwide said this statistic underlines Nationwide’s commitment to FTB lending, as it aims to help an increasing number of Britons successfully access the housing market and get a foothold on the property ladder.
